


Truce

by Fek



Series: Vidow Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
Genre: Angst, Emotional Baggage, Gift Giving, M/M, Rants, Trust Issues, nah more like hostage based alliances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 11:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7843321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fek/pseuds/Fek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Shadow is brought back from death and he can't bring himself to trust Vio again after their fallout.<br/>Prompt from someone on Tumblr: angst because of trust issues. (It's only rated T because of minor swearing)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truce

When he first regained consciousness, he had screwed his eyes shut against the light and clung to the warm figure holding him, rubbing up and down his back. Now, he's afraid to go near that same person.

Vio is a snake: lying comes as second nature to him. He can't ever be certain if he's telling the truth, or if it's just another pretty phrase meant to decorate passing time. Vio is like a game of roulette, except with even less certainty. He's like a glass of wine that may or may not be poisoned, and Shadow’s already been dead once. He isn't eager to take a sip from the wrong cup.

It hasn't been easy avoiding Vio while clinging to Red (the most mischievous of the four, surprisingly), but he's quick and cunning. He's good at making reasonable, if not believable excuses whenever they meet around other people. It's different when Vio comes down a hall alone, unbearable kindness in his eyes.

Every time he sees that kindness, he feels disgusting. It feels like someone has severed all the veins and arteries connecting his beating heart, ripped out the muscle and stitched it back in upside down. It feels like he's consumed some kind of sickness and his gut twists like he's going to throw it up. He feels wrong and gross, because he hasn't healed from before.

Vio stretches out his hand in a welcoming gesture, and Shadow feels betrayal thrumming in his heart. When Vio speaks, the words are cerebral but underneath he hears all the concerns the other will not say.

He would probably punch him if he did voice his concerns.

Shadow stares at the outstretched palm until it drops back to his side. He walks past him, disregarding the invitation to the garden.

If Vio looks hurt when their shoulders brush, or if he looks back at Shadow continuing down the hall of the palace; well, that's his own fucking problem, isn't it?

He deserves it, anyways.

 

* * *

 

Assumedly, Vio and Red had a talk and now he’s bearing the brunt of it. He doesn’t like to talk about feelings, especially not when they're so overwhelming. But Red simply doesn't let up.

“But Shadow, you _have_ to talk to him sometime! What are you going to do, avoid him for the rest of your life?”

“Uh, yeah. That was the plan.” He refuses to face the mediator, let alone look at him.

Red sighs loudly as he sits beside Shadow, lazily kicking his legs. “You know, he didn’t come out of his room for two and a half weeks when he came up with an idea to get you back. I don't think he slept at all.”

“That’s nice.” He spits.

“Sooo, he cares about you a lot, and you care about him no matter what you say. So you have to talk to him.”

“No I don't, and I don't have to talk to him either!”

“You are a terrible liar.”

“Well, you've never been _betrayed_ by someone you trusted with your life. He tried to kill me!”

“You tried to kill him back! And if you were in his shoes now, you would do the same thing!”

“Yeah but it doesn’t matter!” He exclaims, getting up and pacing. “You know, for the first time in my life, I thought I had someone I could _trust_ and _depend on_. I thought I had a friend and a family all wrapped in one with a ribbon on it. He ruined everything!”

There's a moment of silence as his hat slashes angrily through the air, his breathing slightly heavier than normal. Red crosses his legs and looks at the ground.

“I think that’s just how he is-- he always has the bigger picture in mind. When I was, er, when we were Link, we could always see exactly what had to be sacrificed in order for things to work out; and now I don't want to sacrifice anything, so I guess Vio got that part. But the point is that he never wanted to hurt you, it was just… unavoidable. And now he's trying his best to make it up.”

Shadow bites his cheek to keep his eyes from watering.

“You have no idea what it's like.”

“I do!” Red snaps up to look in his eyes. “Before this, I never had anyone to trust completely-- not even Zelda! I thought Vio _killed Green_ , right in front of me! I know exactly what it's like!”

“Red, he never really betrayed you though!”

“Well, in the end he didn't betray you either.”

 

* * *

 

_Making my way around, walking fast--_

“Shadow!” His voice comes from behind and to the left of him, warm and urgent.

\-- _walking faster._

Vio jogs up behind him, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder. He attempts to shrug it off.  “Shadow.”

He scowls and ducks away from the contact. “What?”

“I… wanted to talk to you.”

“Well that’s funny, because I don't really want to talk to you.”

“Please. I know I screwed up, but please let me try to fix it.” He’s begging with his eyes.

“And how do you intend to do that?”

“How can I try, when you won't even talk to me?” Vio’s stance remains diplomatic and unchanged, but his voice wavers slightly with sadness. “I miss you.” He says quietly, attempting to sound level.

He turns to face him fully, crossing his arms. “You have five minutes. Impress me.”

 

* * *

 

“You never even apologised.” He says, as soon as they've taken refuge in a spare room away from prying eyes. He doesn't bother to look up at him. Instead, he dwells in his own emotions: they're a capricious mix of 2 parts distrust, 1 part sorrow, and 3 parts anger. There isn't anywhere for him to run anymore, and now that he's opened his mouth he knows he can only dig deeper.

“I don't…” Vio begins, only to cut himself off with an audible breath. “Oh. Gods. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I haven't… we haven't properly talked since….”

“Yeah, that's nice to hear now.” He slides off the table he was sitting on, beginning to circle the stammering Hylian as the fabric of his garments starts to twist and curl about him. “Do you even know what you did? I cared about you. I would have given you everything. I was going to give up everything for you. I expected that maybe you’d give half a damn about me, but apparently that's too much to ask.” His volume steadily increases as he rants, gestures becoming broader. Everything is moving too slowly, and everything feels too hot. Maybe he just reopened his own wounds, because he really doesn't know why else his chest is constricting. “Obviously, you never cared about me at all.”

“That’s not true, I--”

“Then why would you?” He doesn't need to be cared about, he never has….

“Because if I had told you, you would have killed me and destroyed the world as well.”

“Maybe I wouldn't have! Maybe I would have helped you!” He does need to be cared about, to be loved, to be understood….

“Shadow, you know that’s not true.” He doesn't know anymore.

“Yeah, but I--” his voice is split by a sob and suddenly he’s crying. Tears roll down his cheeks and tickle the corners of his mouth, and he’s absolutely livid at both Vio and his inability to hold his emotions. There's a pregnant pause as Vio closes the distance between them.

“I’m sorry.” He says softly. Then more loudly; “I'm sorry.” He reaches to brush a tear away from Shadow’s face, and for the first time, he doesn't dodge the touch. “I'm going to make it up to you.” In his eyes, it's evident that he's in pain and helplessly devoted, and…

Genuinely sorry. Shadow can almost forgive his lies for the amount of earnestness in this expression alone. Almost. Unfortunately, this cut runs far deeper than what batting eyelashes can fix.

“Oh really, and how are you going to do that?”

“Just… trust me for now.” He smacks his hand away. Vio winces, possibly at the sting and possibly at his own word choice.

“Trust you? Seriously?” He laughs bitterly. “You think I can just trust you again?”

“No. That's why I brought this.” From the back of his belt, he produces a small leather bound book. The cover is worn and stained, the pages torn and uneven, and the binding string frayed.

“The hell is this.” He scoffs, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

He blushes and hides his eyes behind honey coloured bangs. “It's a diary… kind of.”

Before he can react, Vio is placing the book in his hands. It's still warm from being pressed against his back. “This is the journal I used during the quest. It's filled with field notes and diagrams and events and such, but it's also filled with my feelings. About things, about people, about you. It's my most personal possession… and I want you to keep it until you trust me.”

“Why?”

“Because I know I hurt you badly, and if there's a way to hurt me it'll be in here. This way, we’re on even ground: we both have weaponry.” He smirks like he's solved a great puzzle. Maybe he has.

Shadow runs his hands across the front, feeling the decorative dips that make the border. “You know I could burn this in front of you, right?”

“Yes, of course. It is paper, after all. But I trust you to not because I think you still care about me.”

He admires the worn charm of his new ‘weaponry.’ “Are we on a battleground?”

“You were certainly acting like it.” He glares at the comment.

“Was not.” He flips open to a random page, featuring a pressed flower and messy, angry scrawling.

_The others are absolutely insufferable at times; they do nothing but bicker and whine and refuse to focus on the task at hand. Green tries, but Blue is overly belligerent and Red is too sensitive. All in all, they're nothing more than a collection of drooling mouth-breathers._

Shadow smiles fondly at Vio’s past internal dialogue-- it's the same kinds of thoughts that drew him to the colour purple in the first place. But the past is the past, and it's neither here nor there. “It might take a long time.” Trust has never come easily to him.

“I know. Let's call a truce.”

“So we are on a battleground.”

“Well, yes and no. That's what truces are for. We don't have to be in confrontation, we can just… talk normally. Or train, or read, or anything else. So you don't have to worry about being hurt again.” He stretches out his hand in a welcoming gesture. “Truce?”

Shadow looks at his hand, his face, his book, and back at his face. Vio’s palm is warm when he grips it. It feels exactly like he remembers. “Truce.”

**Author's Note:**

> haha that was fast. I hope this is legible. This is why I prefer using 2nd POV when the two characters have the same pronouns. No matter what anyone says, English isn't a functioning language until we adapt ways "this" and "that" versions of he and she.  
> and apologies for the use of a meme. thank you to xd-x3-ash for the prompt!!


End file.
